Halyards and Luff Wire
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Overview of the gear on Uncle Al’s beloved W3854 SHADES a.k.a. Glory Days In this book, I use jib as the generic word for foresail, and distinguish between the smaller “storm” jib and the genoa only where the distinction is needed. 1 16 16 2 15 17 29 17 32 30 1. outhaul 9. pole end fitting trip line 2. spi pole “ears” (2) 10. furled jib 3. vang/kicker attachment point on boom 11. spi sheet catcher 4. pole downhaul storage hooks (2) 12. bow eye & painter (removed while racing) 5. main cunningham hook 13. jib cunningham 6. spinnaker pole 14. jib sheet (continuous) 7. pole uphaul 15. mainsheet 8. pole downhaul 16. skipper throttling preventer 6 7 6 9 5 10 4 3 1 8 14 11 19 13 15 24 22 23 28 27 13 22 12 14 18 18 21 20 24 26 7 18 25 23 20 19 23 20 31 17 17 17. spinnaker sheet (continuous) 25. compass (the late, great Suunto K-16) 18. balls system barberhauler 26. low-rise mainsheet swivel cleat 19. raised spi sheet cleat 27. lever vang/kicker now upgraded to cascade system 20. fixed jibsheet lead with cleat angled up 28. magic box for jib halyard 21. Hans Gottschling net spinnaker bags (2) 29. 1964 bailing bucket from W116, my first W 22. main cunningham cleat 30. rubber universal for extension tiller 23. spinnaker halyard 31. spi halyard block and cleat 24. spi halyard storage cleat 32. non-adjustable bridle 7 Fanshawe Lake in London, ON A misty Sunday morning at the 2013 Pumpkin Regatta 8 Vital Gear > Top Quality Worth Paying For Vital #1: Powerful vang/kicker 16:1 Cascade kicker/vang arrangement Without a powerful vang that is adjustable from both sides, by helm and crew, you cannot hope to go really well upwind when it blows. A 16:1 mechanical advan- tage (r) is adequate for a boat with a relatively large main like a Wayfarer or Rebel. My own boat still enjoys overkill: the 42:1 lever system (p.7, #27) The Mark IV Cascade Vang: cleats Becket block A, hooked into kick- er strap on the mast (below), has lines 1 and 2 dead-ended on its As shown in inset above, our tails (red) and outhaul becket. Line 1 runs through block (white) lead aft under thwart to block and cleat. B, then ends with block C. Line 2 runs through C, to one of two blocks E at mast foot. From there, then ends with double-block D. Line 3 goes each loose end runs aft along the centreboard box through block A. Then each end of 3 goes through to a turning block under the thwart before exiting one of the two sheaves of D, before going forward to a cleat (F below) on each side of the boat. B line 1 line 1 line 2 line 1 C line 2 A line 3 D line 2 E A D 1 & 2 E line 3 A line 3 F 9 Vital #2: Centreboard, rudder & tiller Your centreboard, rudder and tiller should be the finest sample of the art that you can make or buy. Anything less tends to lead to frustration every time you sail. More than anything else, these items are the heart of your boat. Top drawer gear here is not just vital for racing but also an essential safety precaution. Winter 1978: My improved centreboard brake solves the problem of screws losing their grip. I use bolts (above) that Gudgeons, pintles, blade, head, tiller, go through the original plate and car radiator hose. The extension and rubber universal should bolts then pass loosely through about 1/2” (12 mm) of the all be first-class. Flash!! After decades centreboard’s wood into threaded holes in a fitted piece of of struggling in vain to keep a snug tiller 1/8” (3 mil) aluminum for which I made room with the slot fit, I have just switched to metal rudder shown above. Excess bolt length for increased adjustability head and tiller to match. Already I am a is accommodated by extending the two waterproofed holes complete convert. And if your foils are drilled into the wood about an inch past the slot. not yet glass-coated, safety demands that they should be. Vital #3: Jib halyard tension hooked into the loop at the bottom end of the Unless you race purely for the joy of being out on wire jib halyard. Line 1 ends with block B. the water with friends, you must have a way of Line 2 starts at eye strap E.2 and runs through tightening your jib halyard well beyond what block B before ending with block C. human muscle power can achieve. The jib halyard should control your rig tension - taking over from Line 3 starts at the eye-strap E.3 and runs through a fairly loose forestay as soon as the jib is up. block C before coming aft through the thwart at D. Photos and a description of the Wayfarer system From there the loose end runs to a cam cleat with of choice follow: a becket on the aft face of the centreboard box. The 8:1 cascade system used to get desired jib A halyard tension on the Mark IVs. line 1 Line 1 starts at E.1 (starboard equivalent of eye B strap E.2) and runs through block A which will be line 2 A line 1 C line 3 B line 2 C E.1 line 3 E.2 D the 8:1 cascade system used on Mark IVs to get desired jib halyard tension. E.3 10 Vital #4: Main and jib halyard A blindingly simple solution to lost shackles: NEW!! 2021.04.18 Warning from those who know: The late Ton Jaspers, a Dutch Wayfarer friend of Although Spectra and Dyneema ropes have less ours, shared a fine way to do away with loop and stretch and more strength than stainless steel shackle at the sailhead end of each halyard and wire, they are subject to slow stretching called use a ball and stopper knot instead. The halyard is “creep”. So now I will return to halyards with attached as illustrated below. loaded portions of 7 X 19 stainless steel: 1/8” jib, 3/32” for main. But I may splice a foot or so of Dyneema/Spectra to the “sail end” of each hal- Pull this part 1. Double the rope and yard in order to by-pass shackles. Because hollow to tighten thread it through the core dyneema is so easy to splice, I recommend headboard hole. Put the ball through the created loop. using a dyneema halyard tail as well. It is easy to do an eye (loop) splice to connect the two loops as shown above. Watch out for loop chafe though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9kImggLWUQ shows how to eliminate potential slippage by using 2. Pull tight the brummel lock splice. My main and jib halyards as shown. must be fairly precise in length since they go from the sailhead to fixed hooks: on my jib halyard magic box or, in the case of my main halyard, the middle hook of five on my HA23671 halyard rack (left) which lets me use main luffs of slightly dif- ferent lengths. Good news: If you use the “loop and ball” approach shown on the right, it is worth making your jib halyard a few inches too long to build in adjustment options to accommodate longer 3. To loosen the or shorter luff wires on knot, pull on the future foresails. ball. HA23671 Flash! For 2021 I will go back to a wire jib luff wire but change from the stiff 1/8” 1 x 19 wire to halyard wire (7 x 19). Much easier to roll your jib before bagging with the more flexible 7 x 19. Fingers crossed! 11 Miscellaneous mainsail essentials 1. battens that fit well and live Sept. 2002: in the rolled-up sail Uncle Al and 2. a powerful vang/kicker to son, Dave, on bend the mast and de-power Lake Ontario in main upwind and to limit main the Around-the- twist. On a windy run this is Island Race critical. Twist makes gybing harder and dangerous. It can also cause the top of the mast to be pushed to windward which is one source of the "death roll" capsize to wind- ward on a run. For upwind sailing in wind strengths that require you to ease the main to keep the boat flat to avoid excessive weather helm, a well tensioned vang that keeps your top batten parallel to your boom end makes a huge difference to how well you will be able to point (right). We have on numerous occasions arrived at beer stops literally hours before fellow cruisers who were using far too little or no vang/kicker. 3. mainsheet swivel cleat set up so low that it takes con- scious effort cleat the main (below). 4. a mainsheet thin enough to run easily through its various blocks is ample and much cheaper(left) 5. outhaul: main to black boom band in breeze 6. cunningham - to bring upwind sail draft back forward to mid-sail by tensioning tension the luff - easily jury-rigged, nothing high-tech needed. 7. Many cruisers see a reefing system as an absolute necessity, and I very much respect this. But there are viable and cheaper options. See chapter 4 (p.44).